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Howling Dark

Sun Eater, Book 2

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Howling Dark

By: Christopher Ruocchio
Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
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The second novel of the galaxy-spanning Sun Eater series merges the best of space opera and epic fantasy, as Hadrian Marlowe continues down a path that can only end in fire.

Hadrian Marlowe is lost.

For half a century, he has searched the farther suns for the lost planet of Vorgossos, hoping to find a way to contact the elusive alien Cielcin. He has not succeeded and for years has wandered among the barbarian Normans as captain of a band of mercenaries.

Determined to make peace and bring an end to nearly 400 years of war, Hadrian must venture beyond the security of the Sollan Empire and among the Extrasolarians who dwell between the stars. There, he will face not only the aliens he has come to offer peace, but contend with creatures that once were human, with traitors in his midst, and with a meeting that will bring him face to face with no less than the oldest enemy of mankind.

If he succeeds, he will usher in a peace unlike any in recorded history. If he fails...the galaxy will burn.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Christopher Ruocchio (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group Adventure Dystopian Military Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction Interstellar
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This is the second book in the sun eater series, and carries on the adventures of Hadrian Marlow.
This book is a little bit slower than the first, but it makes up for that with the overall plot and the introduction of new characters. The narrator has also been changed and as much as I love listening to Jon Lee, the new narrator is an even better fit for how the story is told.

Excellent second book

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Maybe it is me being an old man, but I really felt that at times it was disjointed, having said that the words, descriptions and phrases used made up for the slow times. A long book and I have already purchased the other two, but will give them a miss for the time being. need something more realistic for a while.

A bit difficult to get into, I was never gripped.

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This certainly pushed the story forward. After Empire of Silence you know that the Cielcin were set up as the baddies of the series , but most of the novel was set on Delos and Emesh so you didn’t get a sense of the wider universe. Now things have been opened out and the world building is probably the best part of this novel. The action sequences are quite rationed, but Ruocchio is good at building tension and revealing insights through the book to keep you constantly interested. When we do get to the finale it is pretty epic. I’m still not sure if the Cielcin are the ultimate enemy in the story. They were very mean at the end but I still felt a bit sorry for them, was that the authors intention?

We are in Hadrian’s head for this whole series and you’ve got to like him at least a bit or else you’re not making it to the end. I think he is an interesting character, although I do occasionally glaze over with his internal musings. The weaker part is the the secondary characters. We see them through Hadrian so maybe he’s not able to truly reflect how they might be. Mostly they are a set of traits rather than personalities. There are good people, bad people, cowardly and mad, alien and machine but none of them quite burst out of the page with their own personality. That aside I’m enjoying it very much.

It’s getting better

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As others have said the switch in narrator took a bit of getting used to. That being said after a while I eventually forgot all about the first narrator.

I adore the prose from this author. There’s a quality Tobit that elevates the story, and the characters. I especially appreciate that while Hadrian could so easily be an edgy Mary sue there’s a realness to him that stops that from happening.

Genuinely intrigued to see where this story goes.

Took a while but it’s got me hooked

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Where to start? Aside from being a complete and compelling second book in the series it eclipses Empire of Silence entirely and far exceeds all expectations. The development of the characters had me floored. I love this book. The series has the makings of greatness.

What a ride.

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